Propaganda and Carlisle

Propaganda Surrounding the Carlisle Indian School

• Introduction

The founder of the school, Captain Richard Henry Pratt, was heavily committed to making sure that the Carlisle Indian School was portrayed as a huge success to everyone; he could keep it under wraps that the school was a greatly assimilated education system that cost the lives of many Indigenous children. These lives were not only physical but mental as well. Stripping away these young children's cultural identifications to wipe out an entire culture was the true end goal of Pratt's vision behind this institution. 

Captain Pratt may not have understood that he was aiming to wipe out an entire culture at the time; however, his ideology wasn't promoting success, but it was persuasively promoting genocide. Looking back on the history of the Carlisle Indian School, we see a high level of difference as discussed in our politics of difference class this semester. Difference is the state of two things being “not the same,” and within issues regarding politics and how they affect Indigenous people specifically, we see a lot of difference being presented. In this class, we have not only talked about the discrimination against Indigenous people, but we have also talked about discrimination against people of color, people who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community, discrimination on the premise of religious intolerance, and much more. The Indian Carlisle School is a topic we have already learned about in this class, but it is significant that we are taught more about it concerning how much of an impact it had at the time and the impact it has now. 

Difference and propaganda are two topics that go hand in hand on a very intellectual level when it comes to topics like the Carlisle Indian School. Difference was already mentioned previously; however, propaganda is a subject that needs to be understood before going into the specific propaganda that emerged during and after the era of the Carlisle Indian School. According to a definition from Britannica, "propaganda" is the dissemination of information—facts, arguments, rumours, half-truths, or lies—to influence public opinion. It is often conveyed through mass media" (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). This definition is direct, but very realistic as to what propaganda is. Propaganda is used in order to create falsified promotions of things like the Carlisle Indian School, often to keep it disguised as a positive thing for the people participating in it, but more importantly for the organizations that could be funding it. 

• Pictures for the Press

One of Pratt's main ideas to highlight the "success" of the school to others was the idea of using photographs. Little did he know that these pictures used for advertisement would then turn into propaganda in modern-day society. Pratt was continuously using the idea of photographs as a way to promote the school to organizations and families in America in order to continue to keep the school up and running both from a monetary perspective and a moral perspective. 

The biggest project that Pratt used regarding pictures was an experiment called “Education for Extinction.” Extinction was the replacement word for genocide at the time, and the fact that it was in reference to the education of children is truly horrifying. According to the "Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center," there are many different examples of this idea, such as, "To document his experiment, what scholar David Wallace Adams has referred to as “Education for Extinction,” Pratt commissioned John N. Choate to take before and after "contrast" photos to document the progress they were making in “civilizing” the Indian children. These photographs were then sent to officials in Washington, to potential charitable donors, and to other reservations to recruit new students" (CISDRC). 

So, with this idea of "before" and "after," pictures taken by people hired by Richard Pratt were the main use of propaganda for the school. According to an essay from "Chronicles Dickinson," titled "Visual Propaganda," written by Molly Fraust, "At the Carlisle Indian School, Pratt had “before” photographs made of the students to show the Indians as savage and unsophisticated, making the effects of the “after” images that much more dramatic" (Fraust, M., Paragraph 6). This included things like superficial surface changes, such as the students physical appearances like hair and clothing. There is a deeper meaning to the images as well, which was that of convincing the viewers of the photographs that the students had changed mentally as well. Mentally meaning Pratt's idealistic persona of a true American. 

• Examples of Photo Propaganda: Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center 

• "Before and After" Photos: Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center 

• Publications and Propaganda 

As shown, pictures that Pratt had used were deemed the biggest visual and mental change within the years of the Carlisle Indian School; however, there were also some interesting publications through the school, like school newspapers, magazines, and souvenir pamphlets, which reflected student life and activities. These were not as prominent as forms of propaganda, but they do classify as examples of propaganda in the sense that they were not necessarily depicting the actual events of what students were experiencing in daily life and more used as mere puppets for promoting progress and success throughout the school. Almost as if to show that the students were writing their true feelings and emotions about where they were. Magazines and pamphlets were used in order to broadcast the fact that these activities the students were going through were in fact a positive thing for them. When in reality, they were simply more uses for fake propaganda and education assimilation. According to the publications page for the "Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center," "Many of the newspapers and magazines included here, such as The Indian Helper and The Red Man, were produced at the school by the students themselves, who were developing the skills of printing and typesetting" (CISDRC). 

• Examples of Publications: Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center 

• How is this referenced today? 

There are a multitude of websites, books, journal articles, and social justice movements out there today that reference the Carlisle Indian School, its past, and how it is and still should be prominently recognized today. Two articles from the New York Times specifically address the concept of the Native American boarding schools and how they have caused several lives lost and so much culture lost that needs to be addressed and respected by our communities today. These articles are titled "Lost Lives, Lost Culture: The Forgotten History of Indigenous Boarding Schools" and "The Native American Boarding School System." They are both from the recent years of 2021 and 2023 and contain meaningful quotes to represent the lost culture and address the problems within these schools. 

According to "Lost Lives, Lost Culture: The Forgotten History of Indigenous Boarding Schools," written by Rukmini Callimachi, there are many truths about the culture that was lost and covered up due to propaganda. The article states, "The recent discoveries of unmarked graves at government-run schools for Indigenous children in Canada — 215 graves in British Columbia, 750 more in Saskatchewan—surfaced like a long-forgotten nightmare. But for many Indigenous people in Canada and the United States, the nightmare was never forgotten. Instead, the discoveries are a reminder of how many living Native Americans were products of an experiment in forcibly removing children from their families and culture" (Callimachi, R., 1). This just goes to show that even now people of Indigenous communities are still being forced to reflect on the lost grave of their ancestors' children. 

According to "The Native American Boarding School System," written by Zach Levitt, Yuliya Parshina-Kottas, Simon Romero and Tim Wallace "Until recently, incomplete records and scant federal attention kept even the number of schools—let alone more details about how they functioned—unknown" (Levitt, Z., Parshina-Kottas, Y., Romero, S., Wallace, T., 2). The importance of a quote like this is the fact that a school that closed in the early 1900s escaped federal attention up until the 21st century. Other federal actions have been taken in order to monumentalize the lives of the children attending these schools. In fact, this past year, Joe Biden designated a federal monument at the former Carlisle Indian Boarding School to signify to modern-day media that these lives should be remembered and Indigenous culture needs to continue to be preserved. 

• Pictures of Bidens Federal Monument Site in 2024

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2024/12/biden-designates-national-monument-at-former-carlisle-indian-boarding-school.html 

• References:

C. I. S. D. R. C. (n.d.). Images and Publications. Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center. https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/ 

Fraust, M. (n.d.). Visual Propaganda at the Carlisle Indian School. Chronicles.Dickinson. https://chronicles.dickinson.edu/studentwork/indian/5_propaganda.htm 

T. E. O. E. B. (2024, December 9). Propaganda. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/propaganda 

Callimachi, R. (2021, November 17). Lost Lives, Lost Culture: The Forgotten History of Indigenous Boarding Schools. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/19/us/us-canada-indigenous-boarding-residential-schools.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Mk4.FHDK.xnfl1vwBBLom&smid=url-share 

Levitt, Z., Parshina-Kottas, Y., Romero, S., & Wallace, T. (2023, August 30). The Native American Boarding School System. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/30/us/native-american-boarding-schools.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Mk4.isPl.aWNNmv5__0tz&smid=url-share 

Dejesus, I. (2024, December 11). Biden designates national monument at former Carlisle Indian Boarding School. Pennlive. https://www.pennlive.com/news/2024/12/biden-designates-national-monument-at-former-carlisle-indian-boarding-school.html